In my time watching cricket the two best Australian fast bowlers have been Dennis Lillee and Glenn McGrath and I’d have to include Pat Cummins in the top three.
We’ve had a lot of great quicks over the years like Craig McDermott, Jason Gillespie, Brett Lee, Ryan Harris and Mitchell Johnson, as well as the current guys but from what I’ve seen, Cummins deserves to be up there with DK and McGrath in the top tier.
He raced to his 200th Test wicket on day three of the first Test against the West Indies and what a delivery to get your milestone moment. A beautiful ball that hit the top of off stump, just like we’re all taught to do from the moment we learn to roll the arm over.
I remember seeing him for the first time more than a decade ago when he first burst onto the scene in the Big Bash, before the franchises came in, when he was representing NSW.
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He was this 17-year-old already bowling express pace, he could swing it both ways, had a searing bouncer and an excellent yorker.
Pat Cummins of Australia celebrates his 200th Test wicket. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
I remember thinking “this kid doesn’t need to upskill, it’ll just be a matter of how his body holds up”.
And he had a wonderful debut in the baggy green but then he had all the back problems – more than five years out of Test cricket is too long but he’s been so resilient ever since he’s been back.
Pat’s in rare company among bowlers who have 200 wickets and an average under 22 with McGrath, the Windies greats of Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner and Curtly Ambrose, and England’s Fred Trueman the only others.
Marshall and Trueman were the only others who bowled fast outswingers, the other guys were more about relying on pace, accuracy and forcing errors through non-stop pressure.
Pat doesn’t have the outswinger to the right-hander as much these days, his big wicket-taking delivery the nip-backer.
But now he can also swap the seam around to straighten down the line or go towards the slips off the seam.
Batters prefer swing but when it’s seam, they find it harder to read and Pat’s mastered the scrambled seam as good as anyone I’ve seen.
When fast bowlers traditionally have bowled cutters they’ve dropped in pace because you’re basically bowling a fast off-spinner but with the scrambled seam, you’re still bowling as fast as possible but moving it off the deck.
Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc are bowling it as well these days and it’s a skill the modern quick needs to have in their arsenal.
This match in Perth is set up nicely now for Australia to go in for the kill on day four and five but it’s been good, old-fashioned Test cricket.
It was a real grind for the Aussie bowlers to get through the West Indies batting order on day three and I thought the touring team’s effort was very admirable – they put a high value on their wickets, particularly the top order.
Back when I played in the Australian team, it was about sticking to the game plan and doing the basics better and longer than the opposition.
You’d have to wait until halfway through day the game to get an advantage and then late on day three or on day four the match would finally open up for you.
It’s been like that this week – the Windies eventually wilted under the ruthless bowling of the Australians.
Even when they lost Tagenarine Chanderpaul in the first over to a beauty from Hazlewood, Kraigg Brathwaite and co made it hard for the locals.
It was like you needed to bowl a cracker to knock them over and that’s what happened with Cummins getting Brathwaite and Starc claiming Jermaine Blackwood and Kyle Mayers.
Even though you always felt the Aussies were in control, it was a real arm wrestle and the second new ball did the trick once Starcy got going with fast inswing.
We’ve seen a blueprint for how to use Cameron Green. Short, sharp spells of no more than four overs, perhaps three times a day to use his hostility to rough up the opposition. If they get a wicket per innings from him that is more than enough for that all-rounder’s role.
Nathan Lyon then chipped in with a couple of wickets, building pressure and using his smarts like when he went around the wicket to cramp Jason Holder up and he tickles it around the corner to David Warner at leg slip.
The middle and lower order was pretty susceptible, as we thought, because they lack a bit of technical nous and I wasn’t surprised we didn’t enforce the follow-on after being out in the field for just under 100 overs.
With the bowlers coming of a one-day series rather than Sheffield Shield cricket, they don’t have the overs in the bank at this stage of the summer.
They’ll rest up for half a day and then look to make inroads.
Before they do, I’d be keen to give Green and Alex Carey a bat before the declaration comes. Bump them up the order and even if they get dismissed cheaply, you’ve got Steve Smith and Travis Head up your sleeve which is pretty handy when you already lead by 344 runs.
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